Reset Target tool: Restores the position of the camera target to the center of the field of view.

Toggle between the perspective and parallel representations of the 3D view.

Editing in perspective views has long been a customer request, so when I asked about it among the old-time Reviteers, most reactions were something like...

"Well, no one ever really tested it. We could try turning it on and see what breaks."

So, it turned out a number of things broke, which is maybe why we haven't just tossed it off sooner than this. A number of issues that turned up are fixable, but not immediately.

What Sundial has is what didn't break or was easily fixable. It could be possible to do more on this in the future. Interesting? Vital? Boring because you use 3DS Max for important visualization anyway?

January 30, 2012

First thank you all for the relatively large amount comments on the previous selection post (Press & Drag) that can still be found here. Again the best comments explain why you use it one way or another since that helps us understand how to best support your tasks and uncover patterns of usage.

In this post I want to briefly talk about Chain Select This is the behavior that allows you to select a contiguous set of connected lines. Revit does not have a polyline element so this is one way to speed multi-segment selection.

In the Massing environment the preference is to always select the chain or loop. Tab will select individual sub elements of the chain. This is 180 degrees opposite from the project environment where individual elements are given preference and you must tab to select the chain.

Each behavior has its benefits yet having two opposing behaviors can lead to frustration and slow learning. Is this the case in the field? Do you prefer one behavior over the other? Why? Do we need a setting to control this? can one behavior serve both environments?

September 14, 2011

A lot of good design is overlooked. When you are able to get a task done smoothly, without having to understand how to interact with a fancy widget or discover the way forward, you are often less likely to notice. You may notice if the interaction pre-existed and was recently improved. This happened to me the other day when Gmail introduced a button to delete trash contents in a single click instead of multiple. I’m sure they realized that most people go to empty the trash completely and so provided a link for this. Thanks Google. Things should just work and on occasion delight.

Having said this let’s explore a specific example I recently came across:

The requirement calls for a widget to create and store paths with logical names to external files. Here is the initial design and workflow:

The user clicks “+” and a new row is created. A default name assigned.

The user must next click in the “Path” field, then a dialog launcher will display.

Clicking on the “…” dialog launcher presents a standard “Browse for file” dialog. Once a file is chosen and OK pressed the path is defined.

DONE

So looks good…or does it? Let’s review the task flow in detail:

Create a new entry

Activate the path field

Click the dialog launcher button

Select a file (double-click or click OK)

Activate the “Name” field

Select the text

Type in a new name

Several steps fall into a category of things the user might not think to do or things that unnecessarily interrupt the desired flow. Is the default name meaningful? Should it be created before the file is specified? Why make the user activate fields? (the dialog launcher does require field activation but this is due to a toolkit that has rooted itself everywhere in the UI – another post perhaps)

What would an idealized workflow look like? Its pretty clear what this particular sequential task demands.

Create a new entry

Activate the path field

Click the dialog launcher button

Select a file (double-click or click OK)

Activate the “Name” field

Select the text

Type in a new name (optional)

Let’s see how close we can come.

The user clicks “+” and the “Browse for file” dialog is launched where the user chooses a file.

The path field is populated, the “Name” field matches the name of the chosen file (better default) and the field is activated and text pre-selected. The user can now immediately type to specify a new name if they prefer something else or move on.

DONE

So we can see by performing this task analysis of what is performed by user vs. machine a more streamlined and pleasant experience can be had. No fancy widgets. Sometimes this analysis is easier to perform on working code - making changes in a second iteration but it could also be simulated via prototypes.

There are other places in the UI that could benefit from this analysis, renaming items in the Project Browser comes to mind. Please share others, especially if they are frequent.

I am re-posting here because it gives a bit of a window into how we do design within our group. I am also curious to hear if and how this type of interactive and mixed-media presentation style is applicable in your work. What kind of innovative techniques are you using to collaborate with your colleagues and clients?

July 05, 2011

Months back I posted on Revit rotate behavior (Twist and shout). In the post we explored options for addressing some wishes, mainly better control over the specification of the center of rotation.

The feedback from this post helped inform the addition of some new behaviors to 2012 and the design approach. In the approach we tried to maintain existing workflows for those who found the default behavior workable yet add enhancements allowing experts to quickly take full control.

So what is new in 2012?

New control behavior

The little blue rotate control that you could previously drag to re-position now allows repositioning with a two click operation. "Click" "Click" instead of "Press" "Hold" "Release". The drag behavior will still work for those with strong muscle memory since both behaviors are compatible.

Option bar commands

The option bar now displays two choices for the center of rotation "Place" and "Default"

The former will place the center on the pointer and allow you to define the center manually - especially handy when rotating large elements that might have a center off-screen.

The later is the legacy behavior where the center is placed at the centroid of the element.

The tooltips and status bar were updated to provide further clues to the added behavior.

Spacebar

The above UI improves discoverability of the new behaviors for new users but could easily be viewed as more work by experts so more was done. The spacebar has long been used to rotate components in selection or during placement and can now be used to quickly switch between the two rotation behaviors. Type "RO" for rotate, tap the spacebar and you are in 3-click rotate.

Keyboard Shortcut

A shortcut for 3-point rotate was defined "R3". Select an element and type R3 and you are in 3-click rotate.

Has anyone been using the enhanced rotate in 2012? Are new Revit users able to perform a 3 point rotate? Are experts also happy? I'm curious to gain feedback on the approach and final design solution.

May 19, 2011

A very subtle change yet one more crossed off a list of places we know of that can benefit from this type of UI:

In the type properties of views you can specify tags. In previous releases you would see a list of tag types but if you wanted to make a new type you would have to exit the type dialog and go to the Manage tab to create a new tag type there. Not convenient. in 2012 you can jump to the Tag Type dialog directly from the View Type dialog.

May 02, 2011

Now that 2012 is out of the bag I can take time to cover some of the smaller interface and design changes that made it into the product and might otherwise be overlooked. Today I'll review the type selector.

TS in Ribbon

When the type selector moved to the modeless properties palette some expressed a desire to get it back in the ribbon. More choices for you.

TS Graphics

A small change in type names now align under the family name in the type selector drop down. Previously type names were justified under the center of the image which created issues when trying to quickly scan the list. This is very subtle but was easy so we knocked it off in the spirit of any positive change is good no matter how small and we should take opportunities when they present themselves.

TS in Sketch Mode

Saving best for last the type selector is now enabled inside sketch mode. This was a very old behavior fixed. I'll spare anyone the technical reasons why the button in the property dialog was disabled in 2011 but it was the same in pre 2011 releases though we did have a special property button that would bring up the type dialog then. Now in 2012 the normal type button is enabled. Kudos to the UI team for coming back to remove this inconsistent behavior that I know was source of annoyance. -erik

November 04, 2010

In every release of Revit going back to the start we've had the concept of the "Default 3D view". You click the little house icon and get a 3D axon view named "{3D}". Renaming this view preserves it and allows another one to be created using the same method.

When worksharing came into the picture the {3D} view started to become a source of contention. A project team member would manipulate the view and it would be signed out to them. This then caused other team members to receive a permissions warning when they tried to manipulate the same view.

Workaround

The work around was to save off individual views for each user but the convenience of the Default 3D View tool continually caused the situation to reoccur. Several customers had brought this issue to our attention.

Solution

Now in 2011 the Default 3D view is user specific and works the same as it would in a non workshared file.

When the little house icon is clicked it looks for a view named {3D - username}. Username is defined in the application "Options" "General" tab available from the "R" application menu.

If this view exists it is opened, if not it is created.

The system always directs people to their own default view so the previous contention is eliminated.

September 27, 2010

There has been some perennial buzz on the Revit rotate tool. Each new person that learns the program has to learn this tool and its peculiarities so the topic persists. In this post I want to review the current behavior, the access points, and review some popular revamp proposals.

Rotate lives in the modify ribbon.

When activated there are three options:

Disjoin - prevents joins from interacting with the element during rotation

Copy - creates a new element when complete

Angle - allows you to enter in a precise angle

The first click is the start point of the rotation and the second click the end point. Note: After clicking the first point of the rotation the temp dims listen so you can enter a distance via the keyboard in lieu of the second click.

This brings us to the main issue folks have with the tool: the center of rotation. The center is shown as a blue control that can be repositioned by dragging it to a new location. The problems are:

The behavior is undiscoverable. The status prompt or tooltip is insufficient and many go for a long time not knowing the center can be moved. (a % of this blogs readers may have just learned something)

The center as determined is rarely optimal. The center is the centroid of the item(s), with a few exceptions such as hosted elements.

The center is difficult to reposition. Its difficult to select and drag the control. After dragging its not remembered for future rotations.

Figure - Default rotation centers (hosted door, component, group)

There are really two main proposals that have been discussed over the eons.

Make the tool a three click operation. (Center, Start, End).

Retain (or enhance) the existing behavior yet provide a shortcut to snap the center to the cursor when desired. (the default could prefer one method over the other - preferably the most popular)

I'll share my opinion.

(1.) Simple and while it may mean an extra-click in some cases clicks are just part of performance. It's proven that a person can make dozens of clicks in the same time it takes another to cognitively process a situation and then respond. It follows industry patterns including other Revit patterns such as the nearby "Scale" tool. Some snapping would need to be implemented such as center of Group unless it's not needed.

(2.) Provides a convenient way to place the center but is still as discoverable as the current control drag method. New users would be unlikely to discover it. Placing the point instead of dragging it should be better.

Another variation is to employ approach (1) but offer a snap to get the current behavior where Revit calculates the center. We could also make some better choices such as choosing the family origin, remembering a repositioned center for the active session ect. My concern would be implementing a dozen tweaks to the current behavior will not address the most pressing issue and cost more than just implementing a three-click behavior.

Note: the option rotate after placement would follow the same behavior as the rotate tool and the shortcut to rotate using the spacebar would be unaffected.

Bring on the comments.. Additional ideas or feedback on the proposals listed here are welcome.